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Those responsible for managing the fishery resources in the Cook Islands were noticeably quiet on that day.

Coincidentally - or perhaps not, the next day there was a story in the Cook Islands News from our Prime Minister saying that his vision for the Marae Moana is to set best practice benchmarks first and foremost for conservation. This sounds like great news for our fishery resources, and below are a few tips from leading tuna scientists that can help him achieve his vision.

Fishery scientists, including those associated with Te Ipukarea Society, have been concerned for a number of years now about the decline of bigeye tuna stocks in the West and Central Pacific Ocean.

The MINISTRY of Marine Resources has donated satellite tags to marine conservationist and shark researcher Jessica Cramp for research in the Cook Islands on the effectiveness of marine reserves on wide-ranging sharks.

The set of satellite tags wasleft over from the successful 2012 swordfish (broadbill) tagging project and are typically worth several thousand dollars each. The technology allows for the attached tag to record and transmit information on movement, locations and more. “I’m thrilled that MMR has shown support for my research by donating these tags. I am not paid to do this research and rely on grant funding to achieve my research aims, so the donation of these tags absolutely contributes to understanding how to better manage migratory sharks not just in the Cooks, but in the greater Pacific,” says Cramp.

Regional ocean science experts are in Cook Islands this week as part of a major initiative to strengthen the understanding and application of climate, ocean and sea level information in the Pacific Islands region.

The Cook Islands Meteorological Service has called upon the Pacific Community (SPC) to assist in hosting and facilitating an Oceans and Tides Workshop which opened in Rarotonga yesterday.

“Ocean and tides have a major influence on many key economic sectors in the Cook Islands, from tourism and shipping to pearl farming and subsistence fishing,” the Director of the Cook Islands Meteorological Service, Arona Ngari, said. “The Cook Islands Met Service is keen to improve and further develop our services for these marine stakeholders.”

16 Mar, FFA HQ SOLOMON ISLANDS – The newly announced US 616m value to annual losses from Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated activity in the Pacific tuna fishery should provide “renewed impetus for Pacific countries to step up what they are already doing well, and embrace solutions to help in areas where action is required,” says the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director General James Movick.

DG Movick encouraged Pacific Fisheries officials and all reading the report to unpack the comprehensive analysis and recommended actions from its findings. The two-year independent study led by MRAG Asia-Pacific was launched this Tuesday after being presented to Pacific Monitoring, Control and Surveillance officials leading their national responses to IUU in the world’s tuna-rich fishery.